Anchor is April's Featured Contributor!

by **Tarot** on April 1st, 2013, 3:47 pm

Hello Mizaharians,

the newest Featured Contributor is Junior Storyteller Anchor! As we congratulate him on the award, let's find out what rocks his boat and where he's pulling his weight in this month's interview.

Three months into the role, what are your impressions on the world of Mizahar storytelling? Why did you apply and would you do it all over again?
The answer to this question keeps escaping me whenever I try to wrestle it down. Mizahar storytelling is, simply put, wonderful. I get to collaborate and talk with people who all share a similar passion to me, and I get to vent that passion in a way others can benefit. I applied because this is sort of like a dream job for me, where I get to write all I can think of and see my name on a few interesting features of the game. Of course I would do it again, without hesitation and with maybe a cleaner check to start out with.

Junior Storytellers have a notoriously high turnover rate, but your tenure has been very successful. That'll teach all the people shaking their fists at teenage attention spans (or lack thereof). But seriously, what's the secret of your staying power and indomitable force of will?
Indomitable? That's a new one.

Honestly, analyzing myself is a bit awkward for me since I normally let others do that, but if I were to trace my motivation for going on I would find three sources. First to mind would be pride and accomplishment. Being creative feels best when I have something to show for it, and seeing my name attached to some neat locations and creatures and NPCs makes me feel like I'm being productive as well. Number two would be the nurturing of a domain so that it can grow into its potential a little more. The Suvan is a marvelous place, it just hasn't all been written out yet, and there's a sense of fulfillment that comes along with helping flesh out a domain so that more is known about it. Finally, there are the people. The players in my domain who use what I develop in their writing are a huge part of what keeps me here, as are the other storytellers whose ideas I love reading about and whose acknowledgements help me along.

For those who aren't in the staff, Juniors get their own mentoring from their assigned DS/RS in a special JrSt forum. Has your training been effective? What's the single most important you took home from there?
Hm. Training. Most of what I learnt was from either pieces lying about or off-the-record conversations with Cascade, so there's not a lot I can cite. One of the largest takeaways from my time as a Junior Storyteller though is communication. Communication with players over jobs and threads and grades, communication with other storytellers over locations and plots and information. On a site like Mizahar communication is vital, and anyone who doesn't do so or fails to do it amicably will inevitab.y be stunted by the limitations that will bring. Communication can lead to activity, resolutions, and ideas, all of which are part of the lifeblood of any domain on this site. As for whether my training has been effective, well, I think you should tell me.

Have you ever faced any problems being a differently colored storyteller; for example, people not taking you as seriously as they would a purple or teal name? What advice would you give your fellow Juniors should they ever run into this issue?
Not really, no. At least as far as I'm aware. Cascade had always been very open to my ideas and only pointed out things that didn't quite fit, not blocking things because of my age. As for other storytellers it hasn't come up as an issue at all. I've swapped ideas and collaborated a bit with Echelon on a project with no trouble, a pretty large project as it turns out. Also worked together with Mirage on some new ideas and interpretations for a character in her domain, contributing a large amount of ideas andinpit on her own. If it does become a problem to anyone else however, I suggest remaining calm and patient. If you are being viewed as immature, then a show of maturity and a respectful persistence should be enough to change some minds. Devolving into immaturity will only prove them right. Just keep persisting until someone listens, it'll happen quickly.

Most of us have no idea what it's like to moderate a sea. It is certainly unlike most domains in the game or even anywhere. What makes the Suvan special and what kind of unique challenges does it offer to its moderators?
A lot of the differences between the sea and the city is the sheer vastness of the former. While in most domains everything is within a few bells travel of each other, in the Suvan locations can be days apart. That means developing systems and factions is more difficult because of how everything is so spread out. Travel times need to be taken into account, as does the effect the sea has on some weak stomached individuals. A large part of the challenge for developing locations is the sheer isolation of everything, since the distance means very few things are connected and few of these land-bound NPCs will ever interact. However, that's also where the fun lies. The vastness of the sea means a great diversity among the places to develop and hence moderate. Islands can be wildly varied across the various latitudes, caves and ruins on the shores for all sorts of adventures, Charoda establishments and wrecks on the seafloor. Almost anything is possible, and I haven't even touched some of the nutter NPCs you can have. It's all up to how creative you can be really.

You are also helping out in Black Rock, which is another highly unique domain. What are you thoughts on that domain and how to bring it back to life (blasphemy!) ?
The island needs some love. They're not morbid, just misunderstood. Well, maybe a little morbid. As it stands though, it seems most of the focus is actually on the living rather than the dead, something I hope to fix. While I want to stay as true to the original and keep as much of what's there as possible, I think a couple changes should be made before Black Rock can come out of its shell. Details are going to be kept quite since the project is very much in progress (and slower still because of the Suvan quest), though there are a number of plans in progress. The major one that serves as the center of progress is the creation of a new faction dedicated to Dira, who I hope will both bring Black Rock on to the inter-domain level while also providing some conflict and activity for within the domain itself. It won't be as numerous as the Syliran Knights or the Ebonstryfe, but they will be more than enough to fulfill the facets required by their goddess. Almost everyone other deity has a following, I think an influence as important as death needs one too.

What storyteller project really made you proud? Share a few details!
After a while all of the work seems to blend together, which I hope is a good thing. If I had to single out a single project as one that makes me particularly proud (and going by current completion that is) it would likely be the writeup for the Oceangem pod, a group of Svefra with a long history. While the pod existed long before I even came here, it was with a recent decision to write up the pods and add them to the lore that Cascade and I had set out to write each one. Each pod will ideally have enough detail so that they have a short history, a pasttime that would emphasize certain skills and hopefully attract similar players, and a usual customs and traditions for perhaps some rituals or festivals that might provide something for the players in the pod to do. The Oceangems for example would stress leadership and social skills like negotiation, so if anyone wants an influential character on the sea with some family backup they can do so easily.

Without giving out too many spoilers, what's brewing right now or in the near future? Any intriguing quests or development projects we should stay tuned for?
Well, I currently have a quest underway (sort of) concerning one of the few non-Svefra pirate captains. Since the Svefra claim to be the owners of the sea by grace of Laviku, they find it sacriligous for any non-Svefra to essentially poach on their turf. Hence the hunting down business. So this particular captain's base has been found, and after gathering some allies and family the Svefra are sailing off for the location. This will be the first in a series of quests that will lead to some pretty huge events happening in the Suvan, to do with the Svefra as a whole and even Laviku as time goes on. However, if I say any more I feel like that would be spoiling, so I'll just tease you with that.

What would you like to do when you grow up Mizahar-wise? Are you thinking of going full-fledged storyteller or are you fully comfortable with your current role?
With the resignation of Cascade I think I will be stepping up to Assistant Storyteller sometime soon, though whom I will be assisting is unclear. Still, not until after the bulk of the quest is over with. I'm the only one now, and a lot needs to be done. Eventually, I hope to become a Domain Storyteller, maybe get my hands on one of the juicy undeveloped domains. That is a while off though, as I should get off my training wheels first and get used to the next step.

As a success story in the JrSt program, the staff and community are very interested in your feedback on the program itself. Is there any way we can improve to make it more appealing and fun to the younger audiences? Is there anything we are missing?
The program itself I feel is a good introduction to the basics of storytelling here, giving a grasp if development and grading and moderating. However, one thing that I come across from time to time is a reluctance and hesitation to actually go forward with contacting. This is larger than just the Junior program obviously, but I have the notion that a lot of potentials are intimidated. If you're looking for a specific improvement that can be made then I'm afraid I can't help, though a specfici area I can offer suggestion towards. Since gaining a Regional or Founder's approval is a central part of the process then I think there should somehow be a way to make this kore accessible to those interested.

This soapbox is all yours now. *throws a shoe at the guy in the red sweater who STILL hasn't stopped talking* Is there anything you'd like to share with the community?
In terms of the whole community, all I can say is just keep doing what you're doing. Keep writing and developing and creatiing stories for us all to enjoy. Let the Storytellers and the locations and the characters all change, but always keep writing. As for those who are in thr Suvan or who are with me for the quest, I promise to take care of you as best I can!